Bogus online car salesmen face jail

Two bogus car salesmen who placed fake advertisements on the website Gumtree and then robbed their unsuspecting "customers" have been jailed.

Richard McCrorie, 25, and Alexander Gould, 22, advertised vehicles on the internet and then arranged to meet potential buyers in quiet, residential locations in affluent areas of Surrey.

Each time, they stipulated that payments were to be made in cash - but once the victim arrived they would strike, using guns and metal bars to attack and threaten their customers, a Surrey Police spokesman said.

But McCrorie and Gould, his cousin, were caught when officers from Surrey Police's Serious Crime Investigation Team (SCIT) carried out an intelligence-led operation and identified a pattern in the robberies.

McCrorie, from Fleetside, West Molesey, Surrey, was handed a seven-year prison sentence at Guildford Crown Court. Gould, 22, of Norley Drive, Manchester, was jailed for six years at the same court.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Insp Pete Fulton said: "McCrorie and Gould were part of a well planned and elaborate conspiracy to lure people they believed would be carrying a substantial amount of cash to quiet residential areas so they could rob them. They were prepared to use extreme levels of violence to achieve their aims and their crimes have had a terrifying and lasting effect on their victims."

The pair met their first "customer", from north London, at a residential property in Pond Road, Hook Heath, in Woking, on April 22.

Prior to the meeting, the customer was instructed to make contact with a man called "James" when he arrived at the location. He made the call and was told to park on the property's driveway and wait for "James" who was running late.

But as he waited, two men, one carrying a black pistol, ran from behind a hedge and dragged him from the driver's seat. He was hit over the head while his attackers, both wearing balaclavas, demanded he hand over the money or they would kill him. He gave them £1,100 in cash and the two men fled. The victim was left with blood pouring from his head and requiring stitches.

Days later, the pair targeted another man in his 40s. The unsuspecting customer, from Wembley, north west London, responded to an advert for an Audi A3, priced at £6,500. This time the victim managed to activate the central locking system to stop the attackers opening the doors and was able to drive away.